Quoted By:
>SELECTED House Ardenne was once the banner that united your people, fallen as far from its place of glory as could be possible. Even if such a man existed, they would be an unwelcome exile in their ancestral homeland. Nothing good can come of their involvement, save perhaps some insight as to what befell his line in the aftermath of that calamity. You will make efforts to seek this likely imposter out and either show him the error of his ways or, if it is as bad as your fear, end the villain where he stands. [Hearty]
<span class="mu-i">“Does your priest-turned-scholar friend know where this knight is now?”</span> Real or fake, this isn’t something that can be easily ignored. You have a feeling that if you don’t seek this issue out and resolve it, one way or the other, then nothing good is sure to follow.
<span class="mu-i">“I am afraid not.”</span> Father Towbray says with a shake his head. <span class="mu-i">“But if he has returned to Cantǒn, I doubt he has done so whilst wearing those colours openly.” </span>
This is true, to your reckoning at least. Even if he were in a Duchy other than Romaine, rumour would spread like wildfire the moment some passer-by recognised the connection in the heraldry.
<span class="mu-i">“So, he could still be here.”</span> You consider what leads might be available to you, but to describe them as scant at this very moment in time would be unduly charitable. <span class="mu-i">“Brazen enough to have his heraldry recorded by a scholar abroad, but not so foolish as to thumb the eye of the Duchess Romaine directly on our home territory.”</span>
<span class="mu-i">“Milord.” Mikail chooses that moment to speak up, during the lull in conversation. “His Holiness the Chapter Master wishes to see you, at your convenience.”
As you walk through the halls of the Church of Holy Juvenescence you wonder how long the boy has been there waiting to deliver that information, and how much he heard. You couldn’t call it eavesdropping, the lad was just standing right there at the doorway. And it’s not as if you can’t trust your squire, of all people. But if the notion of the return of the long-dead Ardenne bloodline has him at all disturbed, the boy shows no indication of it. Perhaps it is of little consequence to the smallfolk, or perhaps Mikail’s lacklustre education regarding noble heraldry and their significance in various courts is an even more anemic state than you had first feared.
Or perhaps, thought crosses your mind as a silent Comitas knight opens the next door for you, Mikail’s faith in you is just that assured that such ominous news still finds him entirely unflappable.
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